butterfly reserve p-day

We drove for three hours (it was supposed to be two hours but traffic in this city is crazy) and then arrived at Pieda Herrada at the Valle de Bravo for the government owned butterfly reserve.  

First a bathroom stop at the bathrooms which were good.  We just had to get a bucket of water to flush our own toilets.  After the trip up the mountain and back I stopped back in again and a man was cleaning the floor.  I was a little surprised to see a man in the women's restroom but he said come in so I did .  It always cost money to potty in Mexico.  This one was 5 pesos and then they give you a tissue.  

I needed to wash my hands.  Again we scoop our own water as they was no water from the faucet, but yes there was a huge spider in the sink.  Oh well.

Even as we got out of our car there were butterflies all around.

We hired a horse and a guide to pull the horse.  This is Nicolas.  It is the shortest Mexican man I have seen here.  Most of the people are small and short.  Perhaps he is a midget.  He also had two thumbs on one hand.  He did guide my horse up a steep mountain trail walking at top speed with that heavy jacket on.  He said it does it about twice a day during the butterfly season.

Colorful flowers and colorful butterflies.  They just kept streaming into the valley.  The sky was full of butterflies everywhere we looked.  

I still can't believe I rode a horse for an hour up and an hour back.  Is it really riding a horse if I have a guide  pulling the rope that is attached to the horse all the way?  All I did is hang on...especially going down hill.  

Those are butterflies on the trees. In March they will fly to Canada across the great lakes.  They live about a year.  

The trees seems to be discolored because of the many Monarch butterflies that cover them.  They winter over in Mexico and then fly north in the summer.  

  The air is thick with butterflies.  As we got off the horses and walked further up the mountain it felt like we were in a fairy land with butterflies flying all around us.  

After viewing the butterflies in the upper canyon I bought the two baskets I am holding.  This mujer said that she made them from the tree bark of the surrounding forest.  They have a very strong scent that I noticed as we traversed to the butterfly reserve.  When she told me she made them she also showed me her hands and fingers that were rough from working with the bark.  Her young son (who probably should have been in school) was with her as so many children are with their mothers when they sell their wares.  She was very proud of her baskets, and rightly so.  

We went into the city of Valle de Bravo (Valley of the Brave) after our butterfly adventure for lunch.  There was a lake and a boardwalk with all kinds of restaurants.  We were with the mental health care workers, Bruce and Jody Packard from Arizona.

 The waiter in the background was very friendly.  He had "gone to a Mormon church in another town that he had lived in but had not been to church in this town".  We encouraged him to get back to church and even talk to the missionaries.  We took his number and will pass it on to the Elders.   We ate on a restaurant that was on the water.We could feel the motion of the waves all during dinner and into the night after we got home for me at least.  

Dennis had stuffed trout baked with foil.  That is stuffed with shrimp and octopus.  The trout still had a head with eyes and a tail.

Some views of the marina from the restaurant.

You can see the volcano mountains in the background.  Those mountains are all around the Mexico City area.  I wonder what it was like to be here when Christ died and the earth and the elements were in turmoil.  I do believe this is the Book of Mormon country.